The first Semi-Final of the Glenda Hall Shield Finals day at Manuka was to produce an upset as Weston Creek Molonglo, who qualified in 4th place, accounted for top placed Eastlake. Creek’s tactic of bowling first paid dividends as they immediately had Eastlake in trouble and unable to establish any partnerships. A whirlwind 31 from only 20 balls in the middle of the innings from Amy Jason-Jones provided hope for a good total, but the lack of a supporting role from her team mates stifled the momentum. A very disciplined display of bowling from the Creek attack just didn’t allow any breathing room as they continued to pick up wickets. Eventually Eastlake was dismissed for 92 on the 20th over. Maddison Wheatley collected 3/30, skipper Sarah Seckold-McIntyre took 2/11 and Sally Chattin nabbed 2/3 off 2.1 overs.

Creek began the chase aggressively with Nicole Stevenson (31 off 34 balls) and Kirsten Burrowes (28 off 21 balls) rattling on 41 for the first wicket. Thirteen-year-old future star, Clare Levings then came out and batted well beyond her years to stroke 15no off only 20 balls. Creek passed Eastlake’s score after just 13.1 overs and 3 wickets down. The Eastlake attack toiled hard but had too little runs to work with. Coach and Women’s Cricket legend, S-J Moore applauded her team on a great season and conceded that things just hadn’t gone their way in the semi-final.

Western District-UC batted first in the second final and they wasted no time attacking the bowling. Zoe Cooke belted 39 off only 22 balls in an opening stand of 55 with Claire Russell (38no off 63 balls). Cherie Taylor then finished the innings with an excellent 43no off only 33 balls, that featured five boundaries. Jill Sheppard was the pick of the Norths bowlers with a miserly 0/15 off 4 overs.

Norths set about their chase with plenty of hope on a beautiful batting strip and fast outfield. Unfortunately, captain Adi Jones was adjudged LBW for just 1, which started a top order collapse as Norths quickly slumped to 4/24. April Wells was the destroyer with 3/8 off 3 overs. Opener Aimee Slocombe was resolute with 15, including 3 fours and Maddison McGarry made 19 off just 25 balls. However, the total was beyond them and Norths finished at 7/82. Emma Greenhalgh captured 2/27 to help Wests cruise in to the Final.

Weston Creek Molonglo chose to bat first and take advantage of the Wests team being in the field back-to-back on a hot and sultry afternoon. The start, however, did not go to plan with gun bat, Kirsten Burrowes caught brilliantly on the run by Emma Greenhalgh. Danielle Watson and Nicole Stevenson followed soon after and Creek had slumped to 3/8. Stevenson fell to a sunning low catch by Sonja Taylor at mid-off. As wickets continued to fall the run rate failed to accelerate and it was only the concentration and skill of young Clare Levings that held the innings together. When the final ball was bowled, Creek had scrambled to 9/81 and 13yo Levings, who had opened the innings, was still there on 33no off 53 balls. An amazing display from Levings that saw not dismissed in the semi-final and final. She also kept wicket impeccably in both games. The Wests attack was typically consistent with Captain Alisa Clark taking 2/10, April Wells 2/19 and Emma Greenhalgh 2/19.

Wests tactics was to attack from the start and despite losing Claire Russell (8) when the score was 15, steamrolled their way towards victory. Zoe Cooke blasted her way to a player of the match performance with 47no off only 26 balls. Her classy knock included 7 boundaries. Cherie Taylor remained not out on 19 off 22 balls as victory was attained when Cooke struck the winning runs on the second ball of the 10th over. Burrowes bowled well but without luck to register 0/26 off her 4 and Maddison Wheatley took the solitary wicket, from a smart catch by Levings.

Wests had deservedly claimed their second Glenda Hall Shield in the past 3 years, mainly thanks to a dominant display with the bat.

Day one and Weston Creek won the toss and elected to bat first at ANU North Oval. Scott Murn took two early wickets to dismiss opening batsman Blake Dean and no.3 batsman Joshua Myburgh both for a duck. In came Creek skipper John Rogers who put on an impressive display to get a century and finish with 123 from 143 balls. The middle order held strong for the Creek with Harry Medhurst (47) falling just shy of a half century and a good knock from Mark Bennett for 37. Scott Murn was the only multiple wicket taker for ANU, picking up his six wickets for 60 runs. Creek finished their innings with 305 and ANU ended the days play sitting on 2-32 at stumps with play to resume this weekend.

Western District – UC won the toss and sent Tuggeranong in to bat at Jamison Oval on Saturday. The opening pair of Sharma and Floros came out firing, putting on a 98-run partnership before Wests managed to get the breakthrough with Brendan Duffy dismissing Sharma for 33. Floros went on to hit an impressive 86 run with both Barrington-Smith (50) and Rogers (53) celebrating half centuries. The visitors declared at 9-343. Wests came in to bat for 6 overs and were 1-25 at stumps.

North Canberra won the toss and elected to bat first at Harrison Oval. Rowan Wight and Robert Ryan opened the batting and put on 46 runs before Gillespie trapped Wight (30) LBW. Christopher Zhang came in at no. 3 and was clinical with his 52 runs from just 53 balls. Jack Allen was instrumental for Queanbeyan picking up five wickets during his 14 overs and leaving the home side at 7-187 at the end of the days play.

Ginninderra 0-29 v Eastlake 322 (R.Bartley 71, JJ.Hatton 3-37)

Eastlake won the toss and elected to bat first at Kippax Oval. Tom Henry and Nikhil Mathai opened the batting and combined for 61 runs before Jarryd Hatton picked up the first of his three wickets to dismiss Mathai for 23. Henry was run-out not long after for 41. Ryan Bartley was the top run scorer for the afternoon, coming in at no. 5 and hitting 71 runs in an impressive knock. Praveen Mathai also contributed with 38 not out to help the side to 322 at the end of the innings. Ginninderra came in to bat for 8 overs and are 0-29 at stumps.